Northern Michigan University, located in Marquette, Michigan, is a dynamic four-year, public, comprehensive university that has grown its reputation based on its award-winning leadership programs, cutting-edge technology initiatives and nationally recognized academic programs. Northern has a population of about 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Ask a few Northern students what drew them to our university and you will get a variety of answers. That's because there is no single thing that make students want to go to Northern; it is ALL the things that we do here. Northern is big enough to offer a wide variety of academic programs but is also small enough that every time you walk across campus, you'll probably wave "hi" to someone you know.

Curiosity is the raw ingredient of knowledge. It causes us to ask questions, to seek answers, to learn. At Northern Michigan University, natural curiosity and intellectual challenge meet in stimulating classes grounded in the liberal arts. So wherever your curiosity leads you, you can count on the support you need to take the next step, ask the next question, propose the next hypothesis.

The mission of the Northern Michigan University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, Recreational Sports and the United States Olympic Training Site is to create an environment that promotes academic excellence, interpersonal growth and social development; embraces diversity; teaches lifetime leisure skills; fosters spirit and tradition; and builds a lifelong connection to NMU.

Yes, you'll attend your classes, but what else will you be doing as a student at Northern? There's so much stuff to choose from. There's a student organization or club – almost 300 at last count-- for just about every interest. If you're into investigating the paranormal, anime or improv comedy, there's a group. Cheer on your fellow Wildcats at a hockey game or volleyball match. Join a competitive club sport or an intramural team. The sky is the limit.

Reflection: An Essential Component for a Quality Academic Service Learning Experience

ASL Process

Reflection helps improve basic academic skills and promotes a deeper understanding of course subject matter and its relation to the non-academic world, improves higher level thinking and problem solving and enhances students’ ability to learn from an experience. Reflection allows the participants to look back on the positive and negative aspects of the actions taken, determine what has been gained, lost, or achieved and connect these conclusions to future actions and larger societal contexts. Reflection can also promote personal development by enhancing students’ self-awareness, their sense of community and their sense of their own capacity (Colorado State).

Activities (Hatcher & Bringle)

Structured Class Discussions

Faculty creates questions to guide the group discussion in the classroom. This method can be used throughout the course during regular class time. Students can learn about the diversity of services, see connections between different populations and agencies, collectively share successes and problem-solve challenges and learn about societal patterns.

Class Presentations

This effective technique can be used during the middle and at the end of a course and can be designed for individuals or groups. Clear and well-defined criteria and expectations should be available so students will understand how their project will be evaluated. This is an opportunity for students to summarize their learning over the entire course and connect classroom knowledge and out-of-class learning.

Community Mural

This nontraditional technique enables students to express feelings and learning from the service experience and also allows for a creative collective statement about an issue facing the community. Students can use various sources (magazines, newspapers, photographs, etc.) to build their mural. The criteria for this project needs to be well defined but also allow freedom for means of expression.

Directed Writings

Directed writings can be used throughout the course to prompt students to reflect on their service experiences within the framework of the course. The instructor can identify a specific section from a text book or class reading and structure questions for students to answer. Directed writings allow students to critically analyze course content and apply it to current problems and issues.

Ethical Case Studies

Students can be required to create a case study based on their experiences at their service site, and use these case studies in the middle or at the end of the course. The case study should include a description of the context, the individuals involved (respecting confidentiality) and the controversy or event that caused the ethical dilemma. Students can then present their case study to the class and the class then discusses the situation, identifies issues, discusses how they would respond to the situation and gives reasons for their responses.

Journals

Personal journal. Weekly, students write freely about their experiences. The journal entries are submitted periodically to faculty or kept as a reference to use as the end of the experience when putting together an academic essay reflecting their experience.

Critical incident journal. Students analyze a particular event that occurred during the week by answering a prompt such as, why is this significant to you? What underlying issues surfaced as a result of this experience? How will this incident influence your future behavior? Students are asked to consider their thoughts and reactions and actions they plan to take in the future.

Three-part journal. Students should divide each page of their journal into thirds and write weekly entries throughout the course. In the top section students describe some aspect of the service experience. In the middle section they should analyze how course content relates to the service experience. The final section should have students comment on how the experience and course content can be applied to their personal or professional life.

Photo Essay

Students use photographs to reflect on their service experience and can weave a main theme or concept learned in class to actual photo documents. These projects are also excellent ones to share with the campus community, the service sites, for year-end celebrations, or college and other local publications.

Portfolios

Portfolios can contain any of the following: service learning contract, weekly log, personal journal, directed writings and photo essay. Also any products completed during the service experience (i.e., agency brochures, lesson plans, advocacy letters) should be submitted for review. Students can include a written evaluation essay providing a self-assessment of how effectively they met their learning objectives.